


Worn

by thesometimeswarrior



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Episode: s03e06 The Avatar and the Fire Lord, Family Feels, Ficlet, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Uncle-Nephew Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-26
Updated: 2017-07-26
Packaged: 2018-12-07 09:25:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11620695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesometimeswarrior/pseuds/thesometimeswarrior
Summary: “You sent this, didn’t you?!” he shouts. “I found the secret history, which, by the way, should be renamedthe history that most people already know! The note said I needed to know about my great-grandfather’s death, but he was still alive in the end!”“No. He wasn’t.”They’re the first words that Uncle has uttered to him in over two months.Zuko blinks.Zuko, Iroh, Royal Artifacts, and Unwavering Faith.





	Worn

He doesn’t give an elephant-rat’s ass about his _great-grandfather’s demise_ , doesn’t think at this point he even cares about his own destiny, but he recognizes the handwriting on the scroll immediately, snatches up the parchment and holds it close to him. Reads it again and again. Uncle won’t speak to him, won’t _look_ at him, no matter how much he begs, no matter how much he yells, no matter how many items of furniture he breaks. And everything feels _wrong_ , home doesn’t feel like Home, like he imagined home would feel; despite all the Fire, it feels cold, colder than his ship had felt in the South Pole. But he reads this scroll and it feels like another proverb of Uncle’s—a puzzle to unravel with something like annoyance but never with anything like fear—feels _warm._

So he does what it tells him, does his research—asks Azula, who always paid closer attention to Court history, and then stays up half the night in the catacombs reading—because Uncle’s not _here_ to explain this time, wouldn’t speak to him even if he were. But after everything, Zuko’s just as bewildered and confused as ever.

He storms into Uncle’s cell, his display of anger already on his tongue, because he _knows_ Uncle is going to turn his back, is going to say nothing, that he had _one_ chance for his Uncle to give him advice again and he _blew_ it, just like he always does… 

“You sent this, didn’t you?!” he shouts. “I found the secret history, which, by the way, should be renamed _the history that most people already know_! The note said I needed to know about my great-grandfather’s death, but he was still alive in the end!”

“No. He wasn’t.”

They’re the first words that Uncle has uttered to him in over two months.

Zuko blinks. 

“What are you talking about?”

“You have more than one great-grandfather, Prince Zuko. Sozin was your father’s grandfather. Your _mother’s_ grandfather was Avatar Roku.”

“Why are you telling me this?!” The words pour out of Zuko’s mouth before he realizes it’s a question he has, and when they do, he doesn’t know what he means: _Why are you telling me that I’m descended from the Avatar?_ or _Why are you telling me anything, why are you talking to me, after I betrayed you?_ or _Why are you still calling me ‘Prince Zuko’ like I deserve it?_

“Because,” says Uncle, and his voice is hoarse, isn’t as warm as it was in Ba Sing Se or on their ship, but it still _feels_ warm, warmer than the Palace, than this city, than this whole Agni-forsaken country… “Understanding the struggle between your great-grandfathers can help you better understand the battle within yourself. Evil and good are always at war inside you, Zuko. It is your nature, your legacy. But there is a bright side. What happened generations ago can be resolved now, by you. Because of your legacy, you alone can cleanse the sins of our family and the Fire Nation. Born in you, along with all the strife, is the power to restore _balance_ to the world.”

_I still believe in you_ , Zuko hears. _You don’t know what right is or what wrong is right now, but I still believe in you. Even though you betrayed me, I still believe in you and your ability to choose Good. You don’t believe in yourself right now, but I still believe in you._

Uncle stands, paces to the back wall of his cell and removes a small bundle from a gap behind one of the bricks. Unwraps it to reveal what must be Avatar Roku’s weathered royal headdress. Zuko is so stricken as Uncle paces toward him, he doesn't even wonder how the crown could have possibly come into Uncle's possession.

“This is a royal artifact,” Uncle says, reaching through the bars and extending it to Zuko. “It’s supposed to be worn by the Crown Prince.” 

_I still believe in you_ , say Uncle’s eyes and his outstretched hand.

Zuko grasps the worn golden object, doesn’t know what to say in response, but bows his head in something like gratitude before leaving the prison with his uncle’s eyes solemnly on his.

* * *

When he wakes the next morning, this—the old, weathered object with Uncle's fingerprints still on it—is the headdress through which he knots his hair, leaving the other, newer one to gather dust in a drawer.

This is headdress he wears a week later as he considers the War Meeting, his father’s plan to reduce the Earth Kingdom to ashes, as he tells Mai: "I was a perfect prince, the son my father wanted. But I wasn’t me.”

This is the headdress he removes from his head the day after that, the one he carries with him in his pocket as he confronts Ozai, as he says “It was _cruel_! And it was _wrong_!”, the one he feels vibrate with force as he uses Uncle’s technique to redirect Ozai’s lightning.

This is the headdress he has in pocket as he presents himself to the Avatar, the one that he feels heat-up as he stands in Dragon-Breath next to the boy.

This is the headdress that he keeps by his bedside, even after he becomes Fire Lord.

And this is the headdress that—years later, on the happiest day of his life—he hands to the Fire Sage, that he watches the man place in Izumi’s hair, the one he feels brush against his skin when he plants a kiss on his daughter's forehead before placing her into Uncle’s outstretched hands.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! I love comments!


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